Jim Connelly

Jim Connelly is the USCHO Executive Editor. He has been with USCHO since 1999 and previously covered Atlantic Hockey and Hockey East. He also serves as a color analyst for Hockey East on NESN.

No. 1 Minnesota swept by Notre Dame; Western Michigan, Wisconsin, Michigan, BC sweep : Weekend Review college hockey podcast Season 3 Episode 9

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Hockey East selects Metcalf, conference races stay hot, PairWise odds: Weekend Review college hockey podcast Season 2 Episode 19

Hosts Jim Connelly and Ed Trefzger take a look at the weekend and the news of the week.

Highlights include Notre Dame’s sweep of No. 1 Minnesota, which displaces the Golden Gophers from the top of the USCHO.com men’s D-I poll, while Boston College ascends to the top with weekend wins over a tough Merrimack.

Minnesota State and Bowling Green – with its 1,000th team win – keep up their winning ways in the WCHA.

Western Michigan surprised some with a pair of home wins over No. 4 St. Cloud State.

The Big Ten’s Michigan and Wisconsin got weekend sweeps.

Quinnipiac seems a cut above in the four-team ECAC, while UConn popped up on people’s radar with a sweep of New Hampshire.

Also, LIU split the weekend at Army as coach Brett Riley faced uncle Brian Riley at West Point.

And why the seeming differences in approaching COVID-19 protocols between leagues and teams?

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Saturday roundup: Sweep completed as Notre Dame defeats No. 1 Minnesota, 2-1; No. 3 BC survives, 2-1, against Merrimack; WMU sweeps No. 4 St. Cloud State

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A cutout of coach Gordon Bombay seems to approve as Notre Dame took it to No. 1 Minnesota for the second straight night, sweeping the Gophers in a road series, winning Saturday, 2-1. The Fighting Irish are now 3-1-0 since the start of 2021 (Photo: Jim Rosvold)

Previewing UMass vs. Boston University with Minutemen coach Greg Carvel: Game of the Week college hockey podcast Season 3 Episode 7

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No. 8 UMass home-and-home vs. No. 14 UMass Lowell preview with Minutemen head coach Greg Carvel: Game of the Week college hockey podcast Season 2 Episode 20

Hosts Jim Connelly and Ed Trefzger are joined by UMass head coach Greg Carvel to preview the Minutemen’s scheduled home-and-home series with Boston University.

We also look at No. 14 Northeastern vs. No. 3 Boston College, Notre Dame at No. 1 Minnesota, St. Lawrence vs. No. 13 Clarkson, No. 2 North Dakota at No. 18 Denver, No. 5 Minnesota State at No. 19 Lake Superior, and a non-conference series between LIU and Army West Point, which has Brett and uncle Brian Riley facing off as head coaches for the first time.

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Alabama Huntsville’s Lance West talks this year’s Chargers, future growth of program: USCHO Spotlight college hockey podcast Season 3 Episode 6

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A conversation with incoming Hockey East commissioner Steve Metcalf: USCHO Spotlight college hockey podcast season 2 episode 20

Alabama Huntsville won its first two games of the season, and first home wins, with a weekend sweep of Ferris state.

First-year Chargers head coach Lance West joins hosts Jim Connelly and Ed Trefzger to talk about the weekend, future plans which include a new arena and a new league home, filling 13 open spots on the team during the offseason, and recruiting.

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Nobody left undefeated, St. Cloud is on a roll, ECAC is a tight race: Weekend Review college hockey podcast Season 3 Episode 8

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Hockey East selects Metcalf, conference races stay hot, PairWise odds: Weekend Review college hockey podcast Season 2 Episode 19

Hosts Jim Connelly and Ed Trefzger look at the games of the past weekend and at top news of the week.

No. 1 Minnesota fell from the ranks of the unbeaten in a split at No. 12 Wisconsin. That’s good news for the Badgers and not necessarily bad for the Gophers.

No. 6 St. Cloud State got a weekend sweep – including a come-from-behind win and by scoring the only goal in OT – at No. 5 Minnesota Duluth.

No. 2 Boston College split with New Hampshire, with the road teams winning each end of the weekend in overtime.

The ECAC is tight right out of the gate, and close results and OT games proved it.

Then No. 20 Robert Morris has 11 wins and shouldn’t be overlooked.

Also … The Riley family notched its 1,000 win behind the Army West Point bench for father Jack and sons Rob and Brian. Three-on-three overtime is getting more comfortable for teams, with 12-of-14 overtime games being decided before a shootout. And is scoring up? It feels like it.

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Hockey East picks: Jan. 8-13 (UPDATED)

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In this space last week, I knocked on wood saying that barring COVID setbacks, last week would produce the busiest week for Hockey East since the restart. All of those games went off without a hitch. But that seems like a distant memory as both UConn and UMass Lowell have COVID tests in recent days … Read more

Clarkson at Quinnipiac preview with Bobcats coach Rand Pecknold: Game of the Week college hockey podcast Season 3 Episode 6

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No. 8 UMass home-and-home vs. No. 14 UMass Lowell preview with Minutemen head coach Greg Carvel: Game of the Week college hockey podcast Season 2 Episode 20

This season finds ECAC Hockey trimmed down to just four teams. Two of those teams – No. 10 Clarkson and No. 13 Quinnipiac – have a three-game series this weekend. Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold, whose Bobcats host the Golden Knights, joins hosts Jim Connelly and Ed Trefzger for a preview.

We also look at No. 6 St. Cloud at No. 5 Minnesota Duluth, No. 1 Minnesota at No. 12 Wisconsin, and Arizona State at No. 18 Notre Dame.

Also of note: all 11 teams in Hockey East will finally have gotten their seasons underway in a slate of games capped off by No. 8 UMass at No. 15 UMass Lowell on Tuesday.

And the two ranked teams in Atlantic Hockey – No. 19 American International and No. 20 Robert Morris – have series this weekend, with AIC home-and-home with Army and RMU at Niagara and back home against the Purple Eagles for two.

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This Week in Hockey East: Heavy conference representation at World Juniors, with U.S. coming away with gold

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Tuesday night was a night for the ages in the United States as the U.S. Under-20 team upset its rival to the north, Canada, for World Junior gold.

Certainly there was impact from Hockey East in the game as Northeastern’s Devon Levi entered riding an historic streak in goal for Team Canada and former Boston University forward Trevor Zegras skated through the tournament at a wild clip, eventually finishing with a point total that matched the largest ever for a U.S. player.

But there was one team that was loaded with great storylines on both sides of the puck: Boston College.

Robert Morris’ Derek Schooley talks Colonials, recruiting in Pittsburgh, Frozen Four planning: USCHO Spotlight college hockey podcast Season 3 Episode 6

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A conversation with incoming Hockey East commissioner Steve Metcalf: USCHO Spotlight college hockey podcast season 2 episode 20

Robert Morris is off to a strong 8-3 start overall and 6-1 in Atlantic Hockey play. Head coach Derek Schooley joins hosts Jim Connelly and Ed Trefzger to talk about this year’s team, playing a compressed and changing schedule, recruiting the best talent from around Pittsburgh, and about the planning that’s going on for the 2021 Frozen Four in the Steel City.

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Minnesota Duluth at St. Cloud State preview with writer Matt Wellens: Game of the Week college hockey podcast Season 3 Episode 5

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No. 8 UMass home-and-home vs. No. 14 UMass Lowell preview with Minutemen head coach Greg Carvel: Game of the Week college hockey podcast Season 2 Episode 20

Hosts Jim Connelly and Ed Trefzger are joined by Minnesota Duluth beat writer Matt Wellens of the Duluth News Tribune to preview the No. 4 Bulldogs at No. 6 St. Cloud State in NCHC play.

Jim and Ed also look ahead to another NCHC series, No. 16 Denver vs. Colorado College, a Hockey East home-and-home series between No. 13 Northeastern and No. 9 UMass, the start of ECAC Hockey play, and Arizona State’s games at No. 1 Minnesota.

The hosts and guest also opine on the proposal by NCHC commissioner Josh Fenton to use historical data to allocate at-large bids in this season’s NCAA tournament.

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Hockey East picks: Dec. 30-Jan. 4

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I feel the need to knock on wood as I type this. But should all of the scheduled games on the Hockey East slate go off as expected, we will see, by far, the busiest weekend of the season as we turn the page from 2020 (can’t do that soon enough) to 2021. So as … Read more

TMQ: Discussing NCHC commish Fenton’s comments on NCAA hockey tournament seeds based on past showings

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Each week during the season, we look at the big events and big games around Division I men’s college hockey in Tuesday Morning Quarterback.

Usually, the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day is a down time for TMQ, but in this most unusual hockey season, we perhaps should have anticipated that something would surface to merit comment this week, which is exactly what happened in the form of NCHC commissioner Josh Fenton’s unconventional ideas about how to choose the 2021 tournament field.

World Juniors 2021 preview with Chris Peters: USCHO Spotlight college hockey podcast Season 3 Episode 5

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A conversation with incoming Hockey East commissioner Steve Metcalf: USCHO Spotlight college hockey podcast season 2 episode 20

The semester break in college hockey signals that it’s time for the IIHF Under-20 Men’s World Junior Championship. Hosts Jim Connelly and Ed Trefzger are joined by ESPN’s Chris Peters to preview the tournament.

Topics include the USA roster, its coaching staff headed up by Providence’s Nate Leaman, prospects for team USA, and COVID-19’s impact on the tournament.

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